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SONNETS 

SUGGESTED BY BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY 
J. PIERPONT MORGAN 


By 

FREDERIC FAIRCHILD SHERMAN 



New Yortc 
CHRISTMASTIDE 
MCMIX 



Copyright, 1909, by 
Frederic F. Sherman 


(gCI.A25:M70 


THE MAZARIN BIBLE 

The first book printed from movable type 


AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT 

The Naples “ Offices ” 

AN EMBROIDERED BINDING 

Charles the First's copy of the Cambridge Bible 

LELOIR’S “ FEMME de QUALITE ’’ 

Bound in Levant morocco with doublure of brocade 

A BINDING BY SAMUEL MEARNE 

AN OLD INLAID BINDING 


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THE MAZARIN BIBLE 


The first book printed from movable type 

How brave these pages are where row on row 
The type in lines unbroken moves today, 

An army that has won the world away 
From Ignorance without a single blow. 

The host of God, its endless victories show 
How powerless are the hands of men to stay 
The march of Truth, advancing, not to slay 
But save them who their peril do not know. 

Here where they first were marshalled into line 
And started forth beneath the flag Divine 
To fight the bloodless battles of the Lord 
They triumph still as in that far off past, 

A mighty army that will yet outlast 

Long centuries the cannon and the sword! 








AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT 


The Naples “ Offices ” 

This priceless manuscript Cellini bound 
In finest gold all marvellously wrought, 

And carven like the jewel of his thought; 

Its vellum, Clovio a canvas found. 

Fit for those visions which he framed around 
With beauty and to bright perfection brought; 
But God’s great book of wonder puts to naught 
The art with which its workmanship is crowned. 

Ours be the glory of the earth and skies— 

That splendid volume which before us lies. 

Each page illumined by the Master’s hand; 

The words of life—its prose and poetry— 

Are writ therein for everyone to see,— 

The miracles of sky and sea and land! 




AN EMBROIDERED BINDING 


Charles the First’s copy of the Cambridge Bible 

Clothed in the crimson of an English king 
And blazoned with rare broideries of gold, 

Of silver and of colors that still hold 
A splendor such as poets love to sing,— 

The holy book Charles read,—this precious thing 
Remains to show how in the days of old 
God’s word was treasured by the brave and bold 
With whose renown earth’s farthest corners ring. 

The humblest soul to common labor bred 
Comfort can find in every precious page 
Of this great book magnificently bound; 

Here where we read where once a monarch read 
His words who reigns forever, age to age. 

The peace that passeth knowledge still is found! 


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LELOIR’S “FEMME de QUALITE 


Bound in Levant morocco with doublure of brocade 


Thou book of beauty, on whose every leaf 
Fair ladies pictured with the perfect art 
Of Maurice Leloir, cheat the reader’s heart 
With graciousness that brings us all to grief, 

Hast in thy covers, like the fairy sheaf 
Of the young god, for each a honied dart 
Of loveliness in which there is no smart 
Other than love’s sweet agony so brief. 

Quiver of Cupid, lined with rich brocade. 

Bound in the sapphire of the summer skies. 

How fine the bands of figured golden lace 
Upon thy casing delicately laid 

That hides his arrows—women’s wondrous eyes 
Whose pleasant wounds transfix us with their grace 



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A BINDING BY SAMUEL MEARNE 


How fresh they spring from the morocco mold 

Of this worn book, these flowers that Mearne massed 
In great bouquets of beauty unsurpassed 
With the sure knowledge of a gardener bold! 

How bright they are, these blooms of burnished gold 
Whose loveliness the centuries outlast— 

And, ah, how fragrant of a time long past 
They seem, these tulips in his garden old! 

With what dumb eloquence they speak today 
For him who laid them out to so display 
The matchless labor of a thinking heart,— 

The love of the dead gardener, he who wrought 
This miracle with them, his only thought 
To make them live forever by his art! 


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AN OLD INLAID BINDING 


Unfaded still, the flowers on this book pressed 
Hold fast the fragrance of the long ago, 

The dear old-fashioned loveliness and glow 
Of treasured things the hands of Love have blest. 
What memories among these blossoms nest,— 
What fancies flutter ever to and fro 
As if they knew what now at last we know— 
That he who bound this work loved Nature best! 

Tulips and roses, yellow, pink and white. 

He gathered from his gardens of delight 
Giving to labor all the zest of joy. 

An hundred years ’tis since he passed away. 

And here we find them fresh and fair today— 

A legacy that Time will not destroy! 





FIFTEEN COPIES ON JAPANESE 
VELLUM PRINTED BY THE 
AUTHOR FOR HIS FRIENDS 










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Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 










DEC 


27 iS09 


One copy del. to Cat. Div. 







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